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The End of the European War 



IN THE LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE 



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By 

F. C. JENNINGS 



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The End of the European War 



In the Light of Scripture 



Fi C. JENNINGS 



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New York 

CHARLES C. COOK 

150 Nassau Street 



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CCGUMENr DIVlSiOK 



The End of the War 

In the Light of the Scripture 

By F. C. Jennings 

XT is fully recognized that there are dangers 
attached to forecasts from prophecy, for as 
the Lord said "I have told you before it come 
to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might be- 
lieve": it is the fulfilment that is to be an aid to 
faith.^ Nor do I forget how frequently human fore- 
casts, however piously intended, have utterly failed 
to come to pass altogether, and then far from faith 
receiving a blessing, it gets a blow, the severity of 
which is proportioned to the confidence placed in the 
dogmatic certainty of the interpreter, who frequently 
identifies his interpretation with the divine word itself. 
Let me then begin by emphasizing this, I write sug- 
gestively, not dogmatically ; and ask, not for accept- 
ance, but for consideration. 

Again, surely there are many future events that we 
are bound to discern even now in the light of Scrip- 
ture, for when they do come to pass there will be no 
need for any aid to faith at all, for we shall then be 
walking by sight not by faith, and of that character 
is the event that is the subject of this paper. 

My purpose then, at least, is to seek by the mercy 
of God the light of the Scriptures on the present 
"roaring of the sea and the rolling surge" ;- and see 
if they do not give a bright path of light over even 
these stormy waters, leading up to the Lord Himself ; 
and His Coming to still the storm. 

I John 14:29. 2 Luke 21:25. 



4 THE END OF THE WAR 

If any one of the participants in the conflict, or 
strong partizans thereof, were asked what in his 
judgment would be the outcome, each would answer 
according to his sympathies, and find little difticulty 
in showing that everything pointed to the complete 
victory of those he favored. This is constantly evi- 
denced in the public speeches of the representative 
men of the nations involved. 

The Christian, however he may be lacking in the 
wisdom of this world, or be less informed as to its 
politics, has one inestimable advantage of which that 
world knows little, and he asks himself : Do these 
holy oracles of God, perfect revelation of His ways 
as they are, throw no light at all on the present scene 
in which His beloved people still are? Do they give 
no answer to the questions that none can help asking 
in these days? Must the Christian he as dependent 
on the contradictory testimony of men, or his own un- 
aided reasoning powers, as the rejector of the truth 
of God? Has he no help — no light therein? Is not 
God the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Trinity, 
here for the very purpose not only of "taking of the 
things of Christ and showing them to him" ; but of 
leading him into all truth, "and shewing him things 
to come?"^ Such questions answer themselves; and 
thus we may turn confidently to the Scriptures, in the 
humble confidence that the Spirit of God will guide 
us as we seek light on the subject of this paper. 

Those Scriptures clearly justify our seeing the day 

I John 1 6. 



THE END OF THE WAR 5 

approach, for it is written "exhorting one another, 
and so much the more as ye see the day approach- 
ing."^ This then is not only permissible but incum- 
bent on us, and the very word "day" clearly evidences 
that nature has its voice and speaks to us in innumer- 
able "parables," which we may possible err in inter- 
preting; but, neglecting which, we should also most 
surely err. 

To see the day approach then we must look at con- 
ditions that introduce the natural day. Last evening 
the sun departed, and for a while his beams lingered, 
making a twilight ; this deepened, shade on shade, till 
darkness ruled, only relieved by the dependent lumi- 
naries of heaven ; the moon and stars, which were 
now and again obscured by earth-born shadows and 
clouds. So the hours passed till the familiar call of 
the cock spoke of another day coming, and this was 
followed by a recovery, a return of the light that was 
lost last evening, in streaks of gray in the East. Then 
those awake became aware of a lovely star, the Morn- 
ing-star that heralded the returning sun, which finally 
appeared flooding the earth with its beams. 

How easily read is this parable in the light of the 
Word of God that gives us the number and the sig- 
nificant names of the watches into which this world's 
night is divided.- We are surely past the first, or 
evening watch, in which our Sun having gone— the 
Light of the world no longer in the world'* — the shades 
began to fall, divine truth began to be lost, "all in Asia 

1 Heb. 10:25. 3 John 9:5. 

2 Mark 13 : 35. 



6 THE END OF THE WAR 

turned away" from Paul/ (that is, from his character- 
istic doctrines) and still greater darkness was foretold 
as coming on.' So the midnight watch came, and in 
the pitch darkness of Rome's dominance, the "moon" 
waned, the Church's light was lost ; the night was only 
relieved by a remnant of faithful ones, who indeed 
shone "as luminaries in the world. "^ The times fa- 
miliarly known as the "Dark Ages" could hardly be 
better pictured than by "the midnight watch." It is 
passed, God be thanked ; and in a Wyckliffe, a Luther, 
a Calvin, a Zwingle, and a host of others, we hear the 
awakening cries of the "Cock-crowing watch" of the 
14th to 1 6th centuries. But this too is surely behind 
us, and we can see plainly (or it is our condemnation 
if we cannot) in the recovery during the last hundred 
years, of many a long-lost Pauline truth, the streaks 
of returning light ; the first heralds of, as they 
emanate from, the still hidden Sun. As Paul was pe- 
culiarly the apostle of the Church with its heavenly 
calling, so it was this character of truth that was lost 
in the evening watch* and it is this character of truth 
that has been, by God's goodness, recovered in the 
morning watch. We say then with absolute confi- 
dence that we are in the fourth, "the last watch of the 
night." We know in which watch our Lord will come 
for there is no other in which He could come. Woe 
to us if we are not watchful and sober! 

1 2 Tim. 1:1. 3 Phil. 2: 15. 

2 Acts 20: 29-30; I Tim. 4. 42 Tim. i : 15. 
I ; 2 Tim. 3:1. 



THE END OF THE WAR 7 

Equally clear, equally simple, equally sure is the tes- 
timony of the professing Church's path through the 
seven conditions foretold in Rev. 2 and 3. Six are 
past, and in the spirit of democracy that has invaded 
the Church, in the self-complacency of the professing 
Christianity of the day, in the ignorance of its true 
condition, in its lukewarmness and indifference to the 
Lord Jesus, in its sad and utter failure as a testimony 
to the grace of God to a lost race, we discover clearly 
that we are not only in the last fourth, but in the 
last seventh division of the Church's path ; and again 
we hear the one word it speaks : "The Lord is at 
hand." 

These evidences answer to what the Lord called 
"the face of the sky," but there is also "the face of 
the earth" to he discerned ; and here the evidences of 
the approaching day are so numerous, so varied, yet 
all pointing with perfect unanimity in the same way 
to the near approach of the Sun-rise of that Day, that 
we have to remind ourselves that, near as this appears 
to be, there is still another herald to come before it: 
the Morning Star ! 

For it is as the Sun, that our Lord comes to give 
a final peace to this war-distracted earth. He is now 
sitting at the right hand of God, awaiting till His foes 
be made His footstool. He asks and receives the 
heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for His possession.^ Then rises from 
His seat, approaches the earth, all lying in darkness 

I Psalm 2. 



8 THE END OF THE WAR 

and the wicked one as it is^ and in which all (but a 
comparative few) are sound asleep, for they are in, and 
of, the night : as He reaches our atmosphere, He is 
seen as the "Bright Morning Star" by these com- 
paratively few, and shouts His quickening word : thou- 
sands of thousands respond from the tomb, and stand 
again upon the earth in bodies as filled with glory as 
His own ; then we who are still alive are also changed 
instantly into the same glory : and all together, in one 
unspeakably joyous company, respond to the infinitely 
superior attraction of His Person, which far counter- 
vails the power of gravity that now binds us to the 
earth, and we rise to meet Him in the air.^ Then 
follows war in heaven, for heaven cannot contain 
both redeemed sinners and their accuser; Satan is 
defeated and cast out to the earth, to the woe of those 
still dwelling upon it.^ Then is set up the judgment 
seat of Christ in the heavenlies, where we all must 
be manifested.* while on earth the believing remnant 
of Israel are also manifested, but there it is in the 
glare of unparalleled persecution^ till they are at their 
last gasp.^ Then Jesus, Lord and Messiah continues 
His journey, we accompanying, until, reaching the 
earth. He consumes the wicked one with the spirit of 
His mouth and destroys him with the brightness of 
His coming,^ delivers the hard-pressed remnant of 

1 Ephesians 6: 12; i John 4 2 Cor. 5. 
5: 19. 5 Isa. 66: 8. 

2 I Thess. 4: 13-18. 6 Dan. 12: 7. 

3 Rev. 12. 7 2 Thess. 2 : 8. 



THE END OF THE WAR g 

Israel ;^ the devil is cast into the bottomless pit,^ then 
follows the judgment seat of Christ on the earth; the 
sessional judgment of the nations,^ and finally, the 
earth, basking in perfect peace in the rays of her Sun, 
and under His perfect government,* forgets the 6,000 
years of misery she has suffered under the devil's 
usurped reign. 

All this is well and surely founded on the Word of 
God, nor have we gone beyond it. Where then, do 
we stand to-day in this path, or way, of our Lord so 
clearly traced? We are surely in the last watch of 
the night : the streaks of the returning light we do 
already see; but the Sun is the full manifestation of 
the Lord Jesus and comes last ; but between these is 
"the Morning Star," and it is to see Him thus that we 
now watch moment by moment. 

But true as this is, it is only one step to the answer 
of our question. The Lord's coming to the air, and 
our being caught up to meet Him there may occur at 
any time, and what we have already seen assures us 
that it is very near, but that is nothing new, for never 
has any known event been allowed to interpose, and 
thus alter the true hope of the Church, and of each 
of her component members, who have ever been con- 
verted "to wait for the Son from heaven"^ and thus 
it would be a mere platitude to say that it may occur 
during the present war — of course it may — but are 

1 Zech. 14. 4 Ps. ']2. 

2 Rev. 20. 5 I Thess. i : 4. 

3 Mat. 25 : Z2. 



lo THE END OF THE WAR 

there strong suggestions that it will probably do so, 
and have its effect upon it? For an answer to this 
we must go further, and look at the present conditions 
of the earth, which apparently only await exactly such 
an event to come into the precise order and arrange- 
ment of unfulfilled Old Testament prophecy. 

For until that long-looked for event, the comple- 
tion of God's heavenly work, as we may call it, is ac- 
complished ; Old Testament prophecy, dealing with 
Israel and the divine judgment of the earth having 
Israel for its center, is not being fulfilled at all. In- 
deed, I am not aware of any Scripture that speaks 
even of the actual transference of the Jew back to his 
land in unbelief.* He is there already when prophecy 
takes him up : has indeed been there for a sufficient 
time, at least, to form a government, and rebuild his 

* This return in unbelief must be carefully distinguished 
from another and later return, no longer in disobedience, in 
which Jehovah takes so keen an interest that He notes the 
actual means of transport : "Who are these who fly as a 
cloud, and as the doves to their zmndows? Surely the isles 
shall zvait for me and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy 
sons from far." Is. 55:8-9. "And they shall bring all your 
brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon 
horses, and in chariots, and in covered carriages, and upon 
mules and in sivift carriages, to my holy mountai}i Jerusalem. 
Is. 66, 20. But this is what takes place after the Messiah has 
come; the return in unbelief is before; nor, I think is this 
to be found noted in Scripture at all. Therefore since it is 
not a part of O. T. prophecy, nor the direct work of God, 
it might occur even while the Church was the vessel of testi- 
mony on the earth ; that is, even we may see, while still here, 
the Jew returning, building his temple, and establishing a 
government in Palestine. I say we may see this ; but it is not 
at all incumbent or necesary that we should do so. 



THE END OF THE WAR ii 

temple ; and this could hardly be done in a very short 
time. 

Let us then first note some, at least, of the condi- 
tions that the inspired word assures us will exist at the 
moment when Old Testament prophesy begins again to 
be fulfilled; then compare these conditions with those 
now ruling in Christendom; note how near they ap- 
proach and what may serve to span that short interval, 
or unite the present with the future and those divinely 
foretold conditions. 

1. At that moment the Roman Empire, so long non- 
existent, must again be in evidence, since its "prince" 
is seen making a treaty.^ 

2. The Jew must also be back in his land, with an 
organized government; for he forms the other party 
to this treaty.' 

3. The temple is rebuilt and sacrifice and oblation 
are again being offered on the altar, and this suggests 
that the return is not very recent.^ 

4. The Roman empire will be composed of ten au- 
tonomous kingdoms, all owning to one federal head or 
"prince."* 

5. It will also be composed of two opposing po- 
litical principles; called, in the symbolic language of 
prophecy, "iron'' and "clay."^ 

6. We may add to these, from New Testament 

1 Dan. 9:27. . 4 Dan. 2:7; Rev. 13, 17. 

2 Dan. 9 : 27. 5 Dan. 2. 

3 Dan. 9 : 27. 



12 THE END OF THE WAR 

prophecy : the utter apostacy of professing Christen- 
dom ; and, consequently 

7, Its sects uniting to form "Babylon the Great."^ 

1. The present war has developed unanswerable 
arguments for the substitution of some expedient that 
shall give a hope, (however vain) of a durable peace 
in the place of the utterly discredited "balance of 
power." The very first article of the "Peace of Rome" 
(as it has already been significantly called) may well 
be an attempt to unify the interests of the contending 
nations by the formation of the "United States of 
Europe." In this we say nothing that is not plainly 
seen and avowed by men who neither know nor care 
anything about Scripture ; but who will, in carrying 
out this expedient, fulfil what Scripture plainly re- 
veals. The United States of Europe would be but an- 
other name for the ancient fourth world-empire : the 
Roman. 

2. Equally probable — that I say not sure — is it 
that the present war, whatever its result, will eventuate 
to the political benefit of the Jew. This has become 
one of the common convictions of the day among 
statesmen, politicians, and men of the world, many of 
whom would rather the Scriptures were proved false 
than true. Even our own eyes see what is in striking 
accord with that probability. For eighteen centuries 
the Jewish nation has been dead and buried in the 
dust of the earth ;- but during the last fifty years the 

I Rev. 17. 2 Dan. 12:2; Isa. 26; Ezek. 37. 



THE END OF THE WAR 13 

national sap has begun to flow, national aspirations 
have revived ; Zionism, as it is called, has come, and 
apparently "come to stay" as men speak ; and the re- 
turn of the scattered people to their land is no longer 
a secret confined to the student of the inspired page — 
no longer an aspiration held by a few aged "orthodox" 
representatives of this ancient people : it is one of the 
logical and necessary outcomes of the present state 
of things, from a purely political point of view. One 
would say therefore that the recovery of Jerusalem 
and Palestine by the Jews was an eventuality equally 
probable, whether one or the other of the contending 
groups of nations be the victors; or if neither of them 
be so, and the end come in some form of compromise.* 
But a feeble Jewish State in Palestine would feel 
the need — since the mass will be there in unbelief of 
its true protector, Jehovah— of the protection of that 
friendly power in the West to which it owed its exist- 
ence ; and would naturally obtain that protection by 
the treaty or covenant foretold in Dan. 9 : 27. Thus 
it would (in its "king") honor — not "the God of its 
fathers" — but in his estate or stead "the God of fort- 
resses" — that is, one who has at his command im- 
mense military strength^ as surely the ten kingdomed 
empire would have. Again another Scripture speak- 

* The Turk has his foot on Jerusalem ; but, like a mad- 
man, he is preparing for his own destruction by barbarities 
perpetrated on the Armenians that have horrified even a world 
getting accustomed to horrors. Surely the Turk will be dis- 
possessed. 

I Dan. II : 38. 



14 THE END OF THE WAR 

ing of the same "king" of the returned Jews: "his 
power shall be mighty but not by his own power."^ 
— or in the symboHsm of the New Testament : "he ex- 
erciseth all the power of the first beast before 
him."- This may be as surely and clearly foreseen 
from present conditions, as it is surely and clearly fore- 
told in Scripture. 

3. It is but an incident that would naturally follow ; 
but it is in perfect harmony with the present liberality, 
by which freedom of worship is accorded to all, and 
this too reflects the present attitude of Satan who is 
posing as an angel of light. ^ When he drops that 
pose, sacrifice and oblation shall cease, and that tem- 
ple shall see another worship ;* Even Babylon, though 
she be but a spurious profession, shall be destroyed.^ 

4. Nor are the present conditions in the prophetic 
earth — by which is meant that portion of the globe 
that is the direct subject of prophecy — at all adverse 
to the revived empire being composed of ten kingdoms. 
Scripture indeed reiterates this ; first in that collossus, 
the subject of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which gives 
a view of the whole time of the Gentile government of 
the earth, and not till the ten toes are there does the 
"Stone cut out without hands" fall f that is, Christ 
revealed as Judge of the nations. It may be quite true 
as some press, that these ten toes are not designated 
divinely as "kings," but they occupy such prominence, 

1 Dan. 8 : 24. 4 Dan. 9 : 27. 

2 Rev. 13: 12. 5 Rev. 17: 16. 

3 2 Cor. II. 6 Dan. 2: 45. 



THE END OF THE WAR 15 

being even distinguished from the feet of which they 
form a part, by a separate verse being devoted entirely 
to them, that, apart from other Scriptures, we should 
be justified in considering them as expressive of the 
divisions of the Empire in its very last stage : and 
this is clearly confirmed by other Scriptures.^ In 
view of the possible radical reconstruction that may 
await the map of Europe, it may not be prudent to 
attempt to name these ten kingdoms, yet all can see 
how easily ten separate kingdoms could be formed in 
Europe, even as it is to-day. 

5. But there is another interesting condition in this 
revived empire that is well worth considering, for it, 
too, bears its testimony to the ease with which the 
present conditions before our eyes could quickly pass 
into that in which they shall be when again in the light 
of Old Testament prophecy; feet and toes are com- 
posed of "iron" and "clay." 

The intrinsic preciousness of the metals symbolizing 
the world-empires that followed each other, steadily 
depreciated from the head of "gold," symbolizing 
Babylon, to "silver," Medo-Persian ; "brass," Greece ; 
until in the legs we come to "iron" which pictures 
Rome. 

And this "iron" tells a double story, for while it 
speaks in its intrinsic inferiority to an inferior char- 
acter of internal government to that which preceded 
it, yet it is the very type of strength as against all 
external opposition. The Persian monarch Darius 

I As chapter 7:24; Rev. 17:12. 



l6 THE END OF THE WAR 

gives us a clear illustration of the inferiority of his 
authority to that of Nebuchadnezzar ; his hands were 
tied, even against a just deed, by human laws.^ The 
truth of the absolute responsibility of those who exer- 
cise authority to Him from Whom alone it comes, was 
thus greatly modified, and we therefore have "silver" 
leplacing "gold." Thus when the Roman comes, every 
governor we see — whether a Pilate, a Herod, a Felix, 
or a Festus — every single one of them shows a further 
loss of the sense of responsibility to the Source of all 
Authority, and a subservience to "the people" below 
them, that surely justifies the inferior symbol "iron." 
Yet what country could stand against the Roman le- 
gions ? In military strength she exceeded them all ; 
for her legions were controlled from one center, 
Rome; obeyed one central will, and this results in 
strength. 

All this helps us to get a clear idea as to the sig- 
nificance of "clay." This is ever, when thus used in 
prophetic Symbolism, a figure of both weakness and 
worthlessness, nor need we go beyond this very chap- 
ter to justify this.- 

"Clay" then is, in a sense, the opposite of "iron," 
and if that spoke of the strength due to the centraliza- 
tion of authority; the strong hand of a centralized 
government having all the strength of the empire at 
its unquestioned control ; that force or strength being 

1 Dan. 6. dered in Isa. 57 : 20 ; and 

2 See V. 41 "clay of mire" verse 42 wher^ clay is a sym- 
or dirt as the word is ren- bol of brittleness. 



THE END OF THE WAR 17 

its only law or limitation; then "clay," with little ele- 
ment of cohesion in it, would aptly figure a con- 
glomeration of human wills that easily disintegrate, 
through their interests being opposed, and become a 
source of weakness. 

Now this Scripture^ tells us that when revived, not 
only shall the empire (the feet), but each one of its 
component kingdoms (the toes) be made up of these 
two contrary constituents. 

Look then again at "the face of the earth:" Are 
not both these principles to be clearly discerned, at 
least in embryo, for as the empire is not yet in exist- 
ence, its elements can hardly be fully developed? But 
in Christendom do not all discern — not always it is 
true under the same name — but still discern — these 
two elements of iron and clay in what we may call "ab- 
solutism" and "democracy." 

Come closer: are not these two opposite principles 
discernible even in the present contending nations? 
Beyond all controversy they are. No one can read 
the daily issues from the presses of the world, with- 
out noting how men at large — who again be it said, 
know little and care less for Scripture — recognize that 
the conflict is largely between democracy and the root 
principle of monarchy; and that, not a constitutional 
monarchy as great Britain, which is really democratic, 
but absolutism. This last, it is true, is called "mili- 

I Dan. 2. Although clay is means burnt clay or sherd : a 
hardly an exact rendering of far better figure of brittleness 
the Chaldee word used, which than the original mass. 



i8 THE END OF THE WAR 

tarism," a term not without vagueness, but Lord 
Cromer, in a series of articles in The Spectator, in- 
sists that "Kaiserism" is a far more correct word to 
use, and it certainly answers better to the symbol 
"iron."i 

This then bears directly on our question as to how 
the war will probably end ; if at least it is to issue in 
the recommencement of the fulfilment of Old Testa- 
ment prophecy ; and the likelihood of its doing so we 
have already seen in the near approach of "the Day." 

For if we throw the light of the Word of God on 
these conditions what should we necessarily deduce? 
That a decisive victory will be effected — a crushing de- 
feat suffered by neither side, or its characteristic* 
principle, seen in the democracy of Great Britain and 

I "Gcrinania contra mun- and widespread threatened 

duin." Lord Cromer quotes, strikes, that hamper the gov- 

as evidencing the truth of this ernment of Great Britain, 

word, from the Kaiser's ad- So the Gaulois, under the 

dress to his armies : "For you title, "A Supreme Will," 

there is only one enemy, and compares imfavorably the al- 

that is my enemy," and again, lies' fourfold schemes, and 

"There is only one laiv, and consequent delays, with Ger- 

that is my lazv." On the other many's instant and undivided 

hand consider the "strikes," obedience to imperial will. 

* I say "characteristic," for both elements are in each side. 

Russia may be considered the very acme of unlimited auto- 
cracy; but Russia is most surely outside the bounds of the 
Roman Empire, whether past or future, and its internal ad- 
ministration is therefore negligible. 

While Turkey, on the one hand, takes the place as "the 
Assyrian" of the present, identified with the symbol of the 
Euphrates (compare Is. 8: 7 with Rev. i6: 12. See "The War 



THE END OF THE WAR 19 

France on the one hand, and the mihtarism of the 
Teuton alhes on the other, would vanish. Which of 
my readers has not heard the expression "the war 
must aboHsh militarism?" That of course is naturally 
the popular cry in countries devoted to a democratic 
form of government; but without entering into any 
controversy at all as to this being the best form for 
the world to-day or not — sufifiicient it is for us to see 
that neither the "iron" nor the "clay" are to be elimi- 
nated, as one or the other would be in the event of a 
decisive victory of its opponent. 

What is the inevitable deduction? It can only be 
that a compromise will probably end the war : a com- 
promise in which both of these irreconcilable elements 
"iron" and "clay" endeavor to get along together har- 
moniously : as it is written : "and whereas thou saw- 
est iron mixed with clay, they shall mingle them- 
selves with the seed of men, but they shall not 
cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed 
with clay."^ 

And such a probable end finds the strongest con- 
firmation in the results of one year of war. Consider 
the many millions of young men, the flower of the 

I Dan. 2 : 43. No. doubt the "order" may replace "mili- 

opprobious names and words tarism," and "liberty" the 

will be dropped, and more "license of democracy." 
pleasant ones substituted, 

in the light of the Word.") Russia, on the other, is clearly 
"the Assyrian" of the future, Israel's last enemy when re-' 
stored to her land and to her God. Ez. 37-38. 



20 THE END OF THE WAR 

nations, slain or incapacitated ; the huge debts that 
every contestant has incurred ; the ahnost incalculable 
destruction of wealth and the scattering of resources ; 
who can deny that all are hastening to utter ruin.' 
And all this without anything that can be called in the 
simplest degree decisive on either side. Is it unreason- 
able to deduce that compromise, or universal bank- 
ruptcy and ruin are the only alternatives? It is true 
that each side endeavors to figure out that its op- 
ponents will become exhausted first ; but to one who 
looks at them from another point of view they would 
appear too evenly matched to justify either relying en- 
tirely on a policy of attrition, leaving the final vic- 
tory to the last man and the last dollar. It is, of 
course not impossible that victory might come on this 
line, but the victor himself would be, in that case, 
nearly, if not quite, at his last gasp. 

Compromise, then, would appear inevitable ; but 
what can bring it about? The very thought is to-day 
little less than nauseous to the contending nations ; 
and is met by a mixture of ridicule and indignation ; 
each insists on the crushing defeat of its adversary. 

Is it not possible — nay, is it not probable — as many 

I "It is estimated that the gained or accepted? Crush- 
mere direct first cost of the ing is the burden of taxation 
war in five of the belliger- imposed, and yet to be im- 
ent countries is $i8,ooo,DOO,- posed upon nations weakened 
coo. "Eighteen billions," and by the loss or absence of the 
the war is apparently young. flower of their manhood." — 
Who knows how many more A'^. Y. Times of Sept. 17, 1913. 
billions before a decision is 



THE END OF THE WAR 21 

a thoughtful mind expects — that some extraordinary 
event — possibly some divine interposition may by 
the very terror and wonder it would excite, lead to 
that compromise which, however inevitable it would 
appear to be if almost universal ruin is not to result, 
nothing else or less is able to effect? 

We at least know, on the sure testimony of the 
Word of God, of just such an event. Few who read 
this line will have any question as to what is referred 
to — for it has been long looked for. We have con- 
stantly insisted that the true hope of every Christian 
is not to die, and so "to be with Christ," far better 
than the present life as this is ; but this leaves Jseus de- 
throned, it leaves the earth without its true King 
and groaning still under the usurper, Satan. Is that 
better? Surely rather is it, as already said, for the 
Lord Himself to come as the Bright and Morning 
Star, which shall eventuate in the elimination of Satan 
from heaven,^ and then as Sun of righteousness, 
which shall eventuate in the elimination of Satan from 
the earth.- 

6. Another of the sad phenomena of the present day 
may be called an illustrative foreshadowing of "the 
falling away" or apostacy of 2 Thess. 2:3. I speak 
not of the utterances of individuals like Paine or In- 
gersoll. There have always been such, and their pres- 
ence to-day would be of little significance. Nor of the 
ravings of a social class so bitterly opposed to all. the 

I Rev. 12. 2 Rev. 20. 



22 THE END OF THE WAR 

existing order that they aim at nothing less than uni- 
versal disorder or anarchy, but rather of the strange 
and startling way that the most terrible blasphemies 
are uttered by people in excellent standing in Chris- 
tian (?) society, fill the pages of the weightier mag- 
azines that lead and express Christian ( ?) thought, 
and are even in the popular pulpits of the professing 
Christian (?) Church: blasphemies that make a spirit 
in any measure sensitive, shrink with awe, and almost 
to wonder that a divine interposition does not silence 
them at once and forever. Every thoughtful reader 
at all conversant with current literature and conditions 
will recognize the truth of this. Surely it is the initia- 
tion of the great apostacy : philanthropic activities 
have largely taken the place in the churches of "re- 
pentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ" — these are but unpractical "doctrines" which 
are now only maintained by a comparative few, who 
are not quite "up to date" : let these few be taken out 
of the way, and nothing would be left to hinder a unity 
based possibly at first on the mere formal recognition, 
and eventually on the absolute denial, of truths for 
which our fathers joyfully gave up their lives. Thus 
God's holy Word tells us of a coming utter apostacy 
from Christ : that apostacy is in evidence, here and 
there, even now. The presence of the Holy Ghost in 
His people alone prevents its free course : the rap- 
ture of these would span the short space, and quickly 
bring into effect the word of prophecy. 

7. But there is another remarkable condition which 



THE END OF THE WAR 23 

may be called a sign of the times. Concurrently with 
the work of God in grace in building a true Church, a 
heavenly bride for His beloved Son, has been the work 
of the devil in an imitation of that work, ever building 
on earth a false church with all the pretensions of 
fleshy pride, a "harlot" ever seeking a meretricious 
union with this world, its government, its kings, its 
earthly wealth and glory. Strong was the protest that 
God raised up against her at the "Reformation." It 
was "Samson," the spirit of Nazariteship arising at the 
midnight watch from a guilty alliance with the Philis- 
tine of Rome, and whom the gates and bars of Gaza, 
the Philistine "stronghold"^ could not retain. But 
short-lived was Samson's energy. Soon, wretched, 
miserable, poor, blind, naked,^ he was grinding at a 
Philistine mill, again affording too clear a picture of 
the faithless trend in modern Protestantism back to 
Rome.^ Is it not evident? Are not the nations that 
threw off the Roman ecclesiastical yoke ever steadily 
drawing nearer to it ? Indeed have we not seen efforr 
after eflfort made, and by Protestants, to bring about a 
unity of Christendom that shall not only include the 
Papacy, but actually accord it the leading place that 
it demands, as its "sine-qua-non" of any unity. 

But this unification of the opposing parties of ec- 
clesiasticism can never be effected as long as the Spirit 
of God is here indwelling the true Church of Christ. 

1 As Gaza means, and as 3 See "Notes on Judges 
Rome is. and Ruth." 

2 Cf. Judges 16 with Rev. 3. 



24 THE END OF THE WAR 

There will always be an effective protest against it. 
Let Him "be gone out of the way" and no obstacle will 
remain to that repetition of the primal attempt at 
unity in the Babel of Gen. ii, and in one "church," as 
in one "empire," each having its "head," will the last 
work of Satan on the earth go on to full fruition. The 
empire indeed will soon change its character ;^ the 
pseudo-church will soon be destroyed utterly- and 
Satan himself in person cause the powers of evil on 
the earth to coalesce in the stamping out of every 
form of recognition of God, till the revelation of the 
Lord Jesus ends it all. 

This is exactly what Scripture forecasts ; we see in 
Rev. 17 one church, fully revealed as Babylon the 
Great; the mother of harlots, sitting on one scarlet- 
colored beast, the revived fourth empire.^ 

There remains what is perhaps the most striking evi- 
dence of all, not only of the imminence of the Lord's 
return, but of this present war being the very last 
event that the inspired word recognizes as immediately 
preceding His coming to the air, and therefore the 
close connection between the two. 

This I have examined in some detail in the pamph- 
let, "The War in the Light of the Word,"* and 
while I must refer any of my readers, who are suf- 

1 Dan. 9:27. C. Cook, 150 Nassau St., N. 

2 Rev. 27: 16. Y. In London of Samuel E. 

3 Rev. 17. Roberts, Paternoster Row. 

4 Obtainable from Charles Price, 15 cents. 



THE END OF THE WAR 25 

ficiently interested, to that pamphlet, it may not be out 
of place to consider rather more carefully what has 
been called, "The Battle of Armageddon," 

In the first place this term is not exactly justified 
by the Scripture, which reads, "he gathered them to- 
gether to the place which is called in Hebrew, 
Harmageddon." It is the gathering place of those 
who respond to the teachings of the three frog-like 
spirits from the mouths of Dragon, Beast, and False- 
prophet ; that is, its prime significance according to 
Scripture, is not that it is the scene of a battle; but 
that it is the gathering place of those influenced by 
certain evil spirits. 

As on the one hand the popular intelligence of the 
day — the one voice of the mass of Christendom — as- 
sumes that this titanic conflict of nations is literally 
or definitely Har-Mageddon, so, on the other, is 
there a strong protest against this by a comparative 
few who are better instructed ; and who point out that 
the last great conflict will not be simply between na- 
tions in discord, but between apostate nations in evil 
accord, whether directly against the Lord Himself, or, 
(as I have no question it will be, at first), against 
Him as identified with the Jewish remnant of faith 
in Jerusalem.^ 

Nor can there be any doubt as to the correctness of 
this latter view. But, when it denies altogether the 
former, it may be questioned whether it does not go 
too far, and really obliterate what is a divinely intend- 

I Zech. 14; Rev. 16, 19. 



26 THE END OF THE WAR 

ed warning. For if all is future and only future, and 
there be no application to the present in any sense, 
where would be the value and weight to us to-day of 
the warning interjected just here, "I come as a thief?" 
But if there is some kind of present application, this 
warning is of immense value and significance for us 
who are now living. 

The root, or basal question is : Had the seven let- 
ters to the seven churches, given us in Rev. 2 and 3, 
any application at all to seven literal historical 
churches actually existing and in the spiritual condi- 
tions therein described? No sane person will deny 
that. Then there must be a sense in which these literal 
historical churches of the first century formed the sec- 
ond divinely specified division of the book: "the 
things that are."^ It is equally certain that they have, 
in this historical sense, passed away, and therefore can 
no longer be "the things that are." What is the in- 
evitable consequence? "The things that shall be 
after these things" — the third division of the book, — 
must, in the same sense, have begun in the early cen- 
turies, have continued all through and are continuing 
to-day. 

This would seem beyond argument. Yet, true as it 
is, it is only a superficial truth, and the reiterated word 
"he that hath ears to hear let him hear" warns us 
against staying at the surface. These seven churches, 
and their varying conditions form divinely ordered 
foreshadowings of the path of the Church through 

I Chapter i : 19. 



THE END OF THE WAR 27 

the centuries, and exactly in the same way, the subse- 
quent events amid the nations have been divinely fore- 
told, in Rev., chapters 6 to 16, and these form fore- 
shadowings of what is yet to befall these nations of 
the prophetic earth, in the last days which are still 
future. 

Simply as an illustration of what is meant, take 
the fifth trumpet, in which is seen a "star fallen from 
heaven." In the details of this same trumpet there 
is a striking correspondence with the Saracen scourge 
on Christendom, and in the "fallen star" is seen Mo- 
hammed. But Mohammed thus, is but a foreshadow- 
ing of another fallen one, also a false-prophet of whom 
Scripture very clearly speaks, even more directly ener- 
gized by Satan — himself cast out of heaven — the 
"Antichrist"^ of the future. 

Strikingly in accord with this is the fact that all his- 
torical interpreters have traced, with more or less 
agreement, the correspondences between the terms of 
the prophecy and the events of history through seals, 
trumpets, and vials till they come to the earlier part of 
the sixth vial ; and then all has been uncertain. And 
why? Because all was, when they wrote, still fu- 
ture. 

But we simply take up the interpretation where 
they were compelled to leave off, and in the porten- 
tous events that have since occurred, and are still oc- 
curring, we see the very end of the sixth vial and 
— "Ar" (or more correctly) "Har-Mageddon" ; al- 
ways, be it understood, only as a foreshadowing of the 



28 THE END OF THE WAR 

final definitive fulfilment to be accomplished only at 
the revelation of the Lord. 

But it has been thought quite enough to destroy this 
interpretation altogether to say : "Harmageddon is 
not in Belgium." Surely not; nor is that contended 
for a moment. But neither is it anywhere else on 
earth. Nor, in saying this, do we forget that there 
was a Megiddo, about 20 miles south of the Sea of 
Galilee in the tribe of Issachar ; but that is not Har- 
Meggeddon ; on the contrary, wherever we read of 
it the context assures us of its lowly position, we read 
of the waters of Magiddo ; of the valley of Me- 
giddo, and surely no one will claim these to be the 
same as this "Har," or mountain, but rather the op- 
posite. 

But that gives the key ; or rather it begins to make 
use of the key already divinely given. All lies in the 
meaning of the word "m the Hebrew tongue" as 
speaks the Scripture.^ It does not then lie in a 
geographical position, but in the significance of the 
word used, and to get which for ourselves we must 
render it into English. 

But what then is the meaning? The first syllable 
is very clear and simple: "Har" (for all editors insist 
that it should be written) means "mountain," and 
this can hardly fail to lead the mind to Zech. 12, 
where we get the opposite to this in "the Valley 
of Megiddo" : I quote, 

"And it shall come to pass in that day that I will 

I Rev. 16 : 16. 



THE END OF THE WAR 29 

seek to destroy all the nations that come against 
Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of 
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the 
spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall 
look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they 
shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only 
son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that 
is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day there 
shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the 
mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Me- 
giddon."^ 

Now, let us consider this carefully. What was that 
mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo, 
that is to be a standard for a mourning still in the 
future? It was the poignant grief of Israel at the 
death of their last pious king. "Hadrad-rimmon," 
— meaning "the pomegranate cut down," — is but a 
poetical name for Josiah, and is a tender and affec- 
tionate way of speaking of their slain king, so pre- 
maturely cut ofif. As when "devout men carried 
Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over 
him,"- it was not merely natural sorrow for the loss 
of a friend; all that would be natural for friends, 
whether devout or not; but these mourners had Is- 
rael's interests at heart, and Israel's present hopes of 
the immediate return of her Messiah were buried in 
that first martyr's grave. After that, the mercy, so 
long lingering over Israel, departs ; and, with the call 
of Saul of Tarsus, goes out to the Gentiles with the 

I Zech. 12:9-11. 2 Acts 8: 2. 



30 THE END OF THE WAR 

heavenly truths of The Church. Exactly so in the case 
of Josiah : in that grave, Israel's present hopes lay 
buried; for, after that, judgment came apace — well 
might they mourn. 

So filled with significance is this mourning that it 
became the very inspiration of one of the books of the 
Bible, ''Lamentations." "And Jeremiah lamented for 
Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women 
speak of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day,"^ 
and these words "unto this day," themselves give a 
permanent significance to any event with which they 
are connected. 

They do so here : for turn again to Zech. 12, where 
this very mourning is resumed as it were, and by the 
same pious remnant of Israel by whom it was begun 
so long before — Jehovah is now seeking to "destroy 
the nations that come against Jerusalem," and His 
favor is told out in the "spirit of grace and supplica- 
tion" poured upon them. It is the gracious grief — the 
bitter-sweet of penitence : the repentance not to be re- 
pented of. Is not the "valley," and the valley only, 
in perfect harmony with such a spirit? Does it not 
accord with and complete the picture? 

But this throws its clear beam of light on the Har, 
the mountain, of Mageddon. For as surely as the 
"valley" speaks of the lowliness of penitence, the 
"mountain" speaks of the lofty pride of impenitence. 
Does not then "the Hebrew tongue" give a worthy in- 
terpretation to Har-Mageddon? Need we seek about 

I Chron. 35:23. See Lamentations, chap. 14:20. 



THE END OF THE WAR 31 

for some non-existent geographical location, when 
such a truth appeals to us? Surely if we do, we turn 
our back on light rather than welcome it. 

In this contrast is the whole significance, for the 
word "Mageddon" is but "the gathering together in 
troops" of those who naturally gravitate to the one 
place or the other : "valley" or "mountain," according 
to the governing principle within them. The root is 
first seen in the name Leah gives to Zilpah's son, 
saying "a troop cometh, and she called his name Gad," 
And it is found again in Micah 5, "gather thyself in 
troops O daughter of troops." Thus we really have 
the root of that part of the word in the same verse in 
Rev. 16:16, which we might paraphrase thus: and 
they were naturally gathered together, in accord with 
the spirits that controlled them, into a place called — in 
the English tongue — "the gathering together in 
troops of the impenitent and proud." 

Thus, in the final definitive fulfilment of this New 
Testament prophecy there shall be, at the revelation of 
Jesus our Lord, two gatherings of opposite moral char- 
acters ; one, of the penitent remnant of Israel taking up 
again the mourning of their fathers at the setting of Is- 
rael's sun in Josiah : a mourning echoed by the same 
pious remnant, when the hope of the immediate return 
of their Sun in their Messiah, was lost in Stephen's 
death ; but now finding that Sun in Him Whom they 
had pierced ! 

But there shall be another gathering together of all 
nations against that remnant in Jerusalem* — a gather- 



3^ THE END OF THE WAR 

ing of proud impenitent Satan-led nations utterly in- 
different to their awful sin of complete apostasy^ 
from that same Lord Jesus, whom indeed they are 
defying. Will not those to whom the Hebrew tongue 
is familiar, learn much from the word Har-Maged- 
don in that day? May we not learn something now? 
For this is shadowed to-day. Shadowed mark : 
with that indistinctness of outline that characterizes 
a shadow, so that we may not mistake it for the sub- 
stance ; yet it is shadowed, and that even in the con- 
fession of the very nations involved, who confess their 
own moral condition in calling it, as all do, ''Armaged- 
don !"^ Now the calling it this, it is freely admitted, 
does not make it so in reality ; and yet, in a certain 
modified sense, it does. Suppose a man contends that 
the first day of the week is the Sabbath, it does not 
make it really the Sabbath, but it at once brings re- 
sponsibility on him to correspond with the measure 
of his intelligence^it becomes the Sabbath to him. 
And so it is written, "I know and am persuaded by 
the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean in 
itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be 
unclean it is unclean."^ That gives the principle ; 
and thus to Christendom this is Harmageddon ; and 
it is because it is that, that the Lord's parenthetical 
word becomes of such intense suggestiveness to us : 
"Behold I come as a thief," for as He is manifested 

1 2 Thess. 2. further consideration of the 

2 See "War in the light of subject. 

the Word," pages 41-44, for a 3 Rom. 14: 14. 



THE END OF THE WAR 33 

in glory to the earth at the final HarMageddon, 
that revelation may well have its foreshadowing in 
the coming to the air at this shadowy HarMeg- 
eddon! 

For, note, what is the very next thing in this line 
of events : the seventh vial poured upon the air, and 
the word "Done" sounded "out of the temple from 
the throne." Surely that must mean the end of some- 
thing — of what can it be the end? The answer is two- 
fold. 

As the one pregnant word "Finished" uttered on the 
Cross meant the end of the age, then present, consist- 
ing of the shadows of the law, so this "Done" would 
primarily speak of the end of the age now present — 
the day of grace. But how does that end? By the 
completion of God's heavenly work and the catching 
up the redeemed for heaven to their eternal home, the 
Father's House, then, and not till then, is the great 
harlot "Babylon" (who now comes into remembrance 
before God) fully manifested on earth in the unifica- 
tion of apostate Christendom, both Catholic and Prot- 
estant. 

But again, and in the second place, Israel's sorrows 
as a nation began with the mercy to the Gentiles : and 
these sorrows too are to come to an end, for "God 
hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew."^ 
Then the sweet words of the prophet, so long appar- 
ently a dead letter, shall convey living truths for 
them : "Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith 

I Rom. 40 : 2. 



34 THE END OF THE WAR 

your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and 
say unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that 
her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of 
the Lord's hand double for all her sins."^ This 
too shall be included in the one word "Done !" 

The coming of the Lord to the air, the rapture of 
His people to meet Him there, is thus the beginning 
of the end — the foreshadowing of the rest of that 
triumphant journey to the earth when He is revealed 
in glory for the deliverance of Israel, which is the end 
indeed. The rapture then would be but the last of 
the long line of foreshadowings, the first of the 
shorter line of final fulfilments, and thus would be 
the link between them. 

Then let us review and sum up what we have writ- 
ten : 

First, we have in Europe to-day an apparent dead- 
lock, or stale-mate, at least in so far as neither side 
has been as yet able to strike a decisive blow ; but all 
are "bleeding white" as is the phrase, and apparently 
drifting to bankruptcy in every form of national re- 
source — to an utter ruin inflicted at each other's 
hands ; a sure evidence of divine judgment. 

Yet, notwithstanding this there is no evidence of a 
genuine national repentance anywhere, no thought of 
a common sin against the Christ of God, and of the 
war being God's hand upon all the nations ; but, filled 
with mutual repulsion, they loath the thought of peace 

I Isa. 40. 



THE END OF THE WAR 35 

by compromise ; for this, each opponent claims, must 
come by a decisive victory over the other. 

Amid all, there is a remnant of true saints : the 
Church of God, who, Spirit-taught and enlightened 
by the Word of God, know that their Lord may come 
for them at any time, and will call them to meet Him 
in the air, before he completes His journey to take 
possession of the earth. 

Nor is there any known reason why He should not 
come during this present war, on the contrary, this 
would appear, from the evident near approach of the 
Day, which it still precedes, anything but improbable. 

Assume, then, that what is not improbable, actually 
does take place, what would result? Instantly armies 
are mysteriously depleted in all ranks from Generals 
to privates, with the necessary consequence of becom- 
ing disorganized and confused; from far and wide 
comes the news of a similar strange, unaccountable, 
mysterious disappearance of individuals who cannot 
be found." In some cases, it may be, that even a 
throne is left empty. No rank, no order is left un- 
touched. The nations are as it were stunned. Surely 
it is not difficult to enter into the paralysis in the prose- 
cution of the war that would ensue from the astonish- 
ment and terror. 

But there is one who has been thirsting to assume 
the place of arbiter, and has been lifting up his voice, 

I Heb. 11:5. 2 Rev. 17. 



36 THE END OF THE WAR 

trying to make himself heard, with exceeding pressure 
of late. He, and his counsellors may well have recog- 
nized the place that could be claimed, and indeed 
would be accorded to anyone who could bring peace to 
the distracted nations. His attempts hitherto have 
been quite unavailing, nor does there seem any prom- 
ise of immediate success. Would not this stunning 
blow give him exactly the opportunity desired? 

The Pope then, again lifts up his voice in the tem- 
porary silence ; a silence like that at Belshazzar's 
feast, when the fingers of an unseen hand wrote upon 
the plaister — a silence beneath which would surge the 
greatest perturbation of heart : "Fear nothing, oh 
Christian nations," he might cry, "The Catholic 
Church is still here ; she is not gone, for the gates of 
hell cannot prevail against the church. This is noth- 
ing but the divine judgment on her opposers. I, too, 
the Vicar of Christ, am still here ; all is well ; only 
'hear the Church' speaking through her head, and em- 
brace her, oh ye kings. Let me, too, as the representa- 
tive of the Prince of Peace invite you to gather at 
Rome, Christendom's true metropolis, and there, con- 
cluding the Treaty of Rome, bring at once peace to 
the exhausted nations, and to the discordant sects. For 
this let there be but one Empire, the Holy Roman 
Empire, under the headship of your mightiest, so shall 
political enmity be abolished, and a permanent peace 
effected. Let there be too but one church in Christen- 
dom, under its divinely appointed head, the Pope, sup- 



THE END OF THE WAR 37 

ported by that empire/ so shall the unity you long 
have sought be consummated. You will doubtless have 
noted, O Nations, how the very obstructions to this 
have been actually removed, by the providential tak- 
ing away of the troublesome protesters against this 
excellent consummation. Do you not see how it con- 
firms my infallible (because ex-cathedra) explanation 
of the present phenomenon ? Your wisdom will know 
how to harmonize the opposing political principles 
amongst you. Unite in letting the Jew dispossess the 
blood-stained Turk, so shall you further both propiti- 
ate the deity and make for peace."* 

We all admit that this is not impossible. Is it 
improbable? Do not "the face of the sky and of the 

*Since writing the al)ove, it has liecn strikingly ilkistrated 
and strengthened by an appeal by Cardinal Farley, on behalf 
of "Peter's Pence for the Pontiff's Purse," from which I 
quote : 

"Today the voice of the Sovereign Pontiff is again raised 
and heeded above the dreadful din and storm of an unheard 
of war. His prayers for peace have risen from the lips of 
millions of his children, and not without avail. In the face 
of what looked like a forlorn hope he has effected what no 
other power on earth has been able to effect. By his appeal 
to all the warring heads of nations, from the Czar of Rus- 
sia to the Sultan of Turkey, he has brought back to the 
bosom of their families 150,000 exchanged prisoners, and thus 
assuaged the untold suffering of sorely embittered lives with 
the peace and the consolation of God. Furthermore, he has 
brought about the betterment of conditions in detention camps 
of thousands of prisoners of opposing nations. And who 
but the Vicar of Christ could have accomplished all this? 
Nor are we without hope that when the quiet times of peace 
return to Europe it will be largely due to the prayers and the 
persevering efforts of our beloved Holy Father, Benedict 
XV." 



38 THE END OF THE WAR 

earth" greatly increase that probabihty since it is ex- 
actly what Scripture says shall be? While one may 
easily err in details, this at least is sure : the day is 
approaching and very near; the dawn is even now 
breaking; the Lord's coming as the Sun of Righteous- 
ness is near : the coming of the Lord as the Bright 
and Morning Star must be still nearer. Indeed so 
near that it may easily occur at any time, and be what 
shall put an end for a time (for Scripture is unequiv- 
ocal that peace will not be permanent) to the present 
war. 

Again I say that all for whom I write will readily 
admit the possibility of such an event during the pres- 
ent war; nor is it at all my purpose dogmatically to 
insist on its certainty. It is admittedly but a deduc- 
tion from Scripture, which may, or may not prove 
correct. But it is exactly the same kind of deduction 
for the neglect of which the Lord reproached those of 
that day so severely. "When it is evening, ye say. 
It will be fair weather; for the sky is red. And in 
the morning, It will be foul weather to-day; for 
the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites ! 
ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not 
discern the signs of the times ?"^ And again 
"When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straight- 
way ye say. There cometh a shower, and so it is. 
And when ye see the south wind blow ye say. 
There will be heat ; and it cometh to pass. Ye 

I Mat. 12: 2, 3. 



THE END OF THE WAR 39 

hypocrites ! ye can discern the face of the sky and 
of the earth, but how is it that ye do not discern 
this time and why even of yourselves judge ye not 
what is right?" 

We too have but looked at "evening" and "morn- 
ing" of the night watches ; we too have but considered 
the warning of "clouds" and "wind," the spiritual in- 
fluences behind the present phenomena, and have 
earnestly sought to maintain only such deductions as 
are justified by plain Scripture. 

No one whose judgment is of any value will deny 
the portentous character of our day, and that every 
portent points with unerring finger to the Lord's re- 
turn being close at hand, and yet Scripture provides 
that the very first stage of that return shall see us 
with Him in the air. (Oh, truth as marvellous as it 
is sure; as solemn as it is joyful!) Then most surely 
it must be exceedingly near, literally "a very, very 
little while"- and the effect of such an event on the 
present war would lead in some cases exactly to the 
very state of affairs demanded by the prophetic Scrip- 
tures ; in others it would be a long step toward that 
state. 

It is surely enough to encourage faith and revive 
hope, and a clear call to a diligent use of the present 
fast-fleeting opportunities of love. But if this should 
prove too sanguine an anticipation, and the war be 
brought to an end in some other way, we may still be 
assured that it will mark a decided advance to the 

2 Heb. 10: 2)T- 



40 THE END OF THE WAR 

same goal— and the unexhausted and inexhaustible 
goodness of our God will still in that end, sustain hope 
and provide the encouragement that His poor, tried 
people ever so greatly need, in these last days. 

Plain field, N. J., October, ipi^. 



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War in the Light of the Word 

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